These 5 steps are essential to becoming a professional copywriter:
1. Able to summarize an article
Summarizing an article can be difficult for some people for becoming a copywriter. It is possible to summarize articles if you know the types of articles you are looking for.
Before you can make a summary of an article, you must first know its type. Here’s an example of how I summarize research article types for becoming a copywriter.
Research articles follow a standard format for communicating information about an experiment. The seven main sections of a research article are Title, Abstract, and Method.
Want to Outsource Your Project? Talk to Our Business Manager
Results, Discussion, Discussion, and References. There may be minor variations such as a combined Discussion and Result section or an overall General Discussion section where multiple experiments are presented in one article.
2. Read the article – Take enough time
Spend at least half of the time you spend on the assignment reading and understanding the article. Understanding the research is essential before you can write about it. This is a process that takes longer than most students realize. Can you understand the author’s study in lay terms (could your roommate explain it to you)? Once you have a clear explanation of the study, you are ready for writing about it. Here are some steps to follow.
3. Read the entire article.
You will find it difficult to follow a new article through from beginning to end. Instead, you can use your knowledge of the APA format to identify the key points. To identify each section, take a quick look at the following:
* The research question and the reason for the study (stated in the Introduction). * The hypothesis or hypotheses that were tested (Introduction).
* How the hypothesis was tested (Method).
* The findings (including tables and figures)
* How the findings were interpreted (Discussion).
Highlight key sentences and write the main point (e.g. hypothesis, design) in the margin. The abstract is useful in helping you identify the main points but it cannot be relied upon alone, as it contains a lot of information.
4. Read for depth, read interactively
Once you’ve highlighted the key points, go through each section multiple times. These are some questions to ask yourself as you read:
* How does the study design address the question?
* What controls are used for each experiment?
* How convincing are these results? Are the results surprising?
* How does this study help answer the original question?
* Which aspects of the original question are still unanswered
Want to Outsource Your Project? Talk to Our Business Manager
5. Plagiarism
Plagiarism can be a problem when summarizing the work of another person. It is best to avoid it
* Write your notes in your own words. When taking notes, avoid writing long sentences.
Summarize the points in your own words. If you are not able to stick to the original language while making minor changes to the words, you may not be understanding the study. (See our handout “Plagiarism & Student Writing”).
This is how You can Become a Professional Copywriter.